AUSTIN, Texas — Every week on KVUE Daybreak, we feature a different child in the Texas foster care system, in hopes of helping them get adopted and find a forever family.
This week, KVUE'S Hannah Rucker met up with 14-year-old Nigel at an Austin staple. The two met at the Cathedral of Junk in South Austin for a day of fun sorting through treasures and trinkets.
Artist Vince Hanemann put together the structure over the span of several decades, using general household items and nostalgic finds, split up by different colors and eras, all building the shape of an incredible cathedral. He allows people in his South Austin backyard by appointment only.
Nigel will enter into high school in the fall and said he is ready to find a forever family to help guide and support him through his teenage years.
Nigel has a wide range of hobbies, and he especially loves thrifting.
"As a kid, we always went to different thrift stores because not only is it more affordable, but you can find all kinds of cool stuff in there," Nigel said.
PHOTOS | Forever Families: Meet Nigel
Nigel is also learning sign language and said he would like to continue learning more about it throughout high school.
"At first, I thought it was a cool way to say secret things to my friends. But now I'm really into it and want to be able to learn more," Nigel said.
Nigel also is learning to crochet and likes to paint and draw in his free time. He said all these hobbies are very important to him because growing up, he wasn't always able to do what he wanted to do.
He's hoping high school will be different.
"When I was growing up, it was not a healthy environment. There was always fighting, always police at our door," Nigel said. "So I guess now, any bit of free time that I have or something I'm able to do, I do it as much as I can."
To learn more about Nigel or to put in an inquiry to adopt him, visit his page on the Heart Gallery of Central Texas.
KVUE launched the Forever Families segment with Partnerships for Children (PFC) in June 2020 to highlight children in the Heart Gallery of Central Texas who need secure and permanent families. Every day, there are nearly 1,000 children waiting to get adopted in Central Texas, according to PFC.
Editor's note: The children who are in the Heart Gallery program and featured in KVUE's Forever Families segments are children who have had every effort made on their behalf to connect them with family or others in their community to provide options for permanent, adoptive homes. Through no fault of their own, that hasn’t happened yet, and so in partnership with the Department of Family and Protective Services, we collaborate to bring awareness to KVUE viewers about these children in the hopes of finding them permanency before they age out.